The Brain Zoo - Basics of Meditation

2017-04-26

[public] 1.07M views, 62.6K likes, 355 dislikes audio only

Another lesser-known member of the brain zoo is Procrastination Salmon. He rarely makes an appearance.

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There is absolutely no reason to associate meditation with religion these days, not if you’re atheist or agnostic. It’s totally possible to be secular and still consider it just as valuable. Which it is. There’s also no reason to associate it with claims about superpowers, enlightenment, seeing other dimensions, or suddenly being able to do triple backflips with a jam sandwich on your head.

As mentioned in the video, it’s essentially the art of gaining conscious control of the rest of your mind, just by observation. Lots of folk have explained it better than I ever could:

A short primer by a Buddhist monk (previously a scientist) about the point of meditation: https://youtu.be/lRk6Yvb-Q28

Another talk by the same charming gentleman on happiness: https://youtu.be/iZwnXj0Ck1k

Dan Harris bigging up meditation: https://youtu.be/FAcTIrA2Qhk

Alan Watts brilliantly going into how he meditates: https://youtu.be/EgHCwsQ1MqI

A rather interesting talk on the physical effects of meditation on the brain by a neuroscientist: https://youtu.be/m8rRzTtP7Tc

A much better explanation than mine about why the self is weird by Sam Harris: https://youtu.be/fajfkO_X0l0

Big Dawg Harris explaining mindfulness: https://youtu.be/Iwac6Uk-zyk

Another excellent video from him on the subject: https://youtu.be/t8U5J_LV3UI

A short but brilliant book outlining how to meditate, that isn’t particularly preachy: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Meditation-Matthieu-Ricard/dp/0857892746

Another fantastic book about a British nun who went into a silent retreat in a cave for 12 years. She’s surprisingly sane: https://www.amazon.com/Cave-Snow-Western-Womans-Enlightenment/dp/0747543895

Also, sort of half-related, I rather enjoyed this. It’s a documentary about a fairly eccentric British Buddhist monk and his adventures. https://youtu.be/ZlDeIZ0On_k

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